4.3.20
A Nearly Carbon-Neutral conference model
There has been much discussion of how to reduce the carbon footprint of conferences by supporting remote attendance in real time, now accelerated by the advent of coronavirus.
Most of the models I've seen discussed are synchronous, supporting virtual attendance in real-time. I was intrigued by this white paper, which proposes an asynchronous model. Talks are grouped into sessions of three, with Q&A panels open for comment for a period of a few weeks.
On average, the pilot conferences’ Q&A sessions generated three times more discussion than takes place at a traditional Q&A. A few sessions generated more than ten or fifteen times more, making clear that, while different from a traditional conference, meaningful personal interaction was not only possible, but in certain respects superior.
This might be an interesting model for SIGPLAN/ACM to explore. Although the white paper suggests it as a replacement for conferences in a physical location, we could also try it out as a supplement to such a conference.
Labels: Academia, Climate Change, Politics
